Gaps Between Grief and Wrath
by Evandar
Summary: "The Summoning Dark seeps from the signs into the minds of those who read it, and from there it takes over their hearts and twists their actions to its own purpose, spreading like a virus through the mines and caverns of the Disc" - an exploration of a quasidemonic being of vengeance. Written for Snickerer, Yuletide 2013


**Diclaimer:** I do not own _Discworld_ and am making no profit from this story.

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Gaps Between Grief and Wrath

by Evandar

Its mine-sign is as much a curse as a warning.

…

The Dwarves do not call on it lightly. They do not carve the sign of the Summoning Dark without cause – not even to teach their youngsters of it – but they all know it. They all fear it. The Summoning Dark seeps from the signs into the minds of those who read it, and from there it takes over their hearts and twists their actions to its own purpose, spreading like a virus through the mines and caverns of the Disc.

…

As far as hosts go, Samuel Vimes is a curiosity. He does not succumb; he fights.

…

The Dwarves don't know where it came from. Some of their grags claim that it came from a mine that was delved too deep; some that it was born from a curse uttered by a Dwarf's last breath; most say nothing at all, and ward themselves from its touch.

They cannot stop it from watching them.

They cannot stop it from lingering in the minds of their people and finding its way out in the world through the crimes done against them. They cannot stop it from spreading.

…

The Summoning Dark lingers within Samuel Vimes. Its sign is emblazoned into his arm and its consciousness coexists alongside his. It knows his anger and it knows his justice and determination. It knows the Guarding Dark that he creates out of sheer will and it learns respect.

…

The Dwarves who call on it in desperation and despair all die. They die from the circumstances in which they find themselves when they summon it, or they die from the summoning itself. As it seeps from the shadows and coils around their hearts and minds it brings vengeance and wrath and true darkness with it. There is no defence, save that which Vimes has created, because once it is summoned its power is absolute.

Samuel Vimes is the only person who has defeated it. He is also the only person the Summoning Dark has been around for more than a week.

It learns from him, and it lingers, and it corrupts.

…

It always corrupts.

…

It cannot attack openly because the Guarding Dark is always there to stop it. Instead it bestows gifts. It gives light where there is none so that Vimes might see in dark places. It gives visions of dark memories when its sign is touched. It greets Vimes with nods as they pass within his dreamscape and it coexists peacefully. It offers testimony for one of his cases and with that testimony comes the offer of more – of a witness to every crime Vimes could ever hope to investigate.

It is then that the Guarding Dark rises up in defence of its creator with Vimes' inherent honour on its side and together they push the Summoning Dark back, back into itself. But the offer remains and will always remain, and there will come a time when Vimes takes up on it. After that, there will be another time and another, and then he will start to rely on the Summoning Dark and the Guarding Dark will no longer be strong enough to beat it back.

This is how the Summoning Dark will win. This is how it corrupts and spreads, and it will spread from Vimes just as it has done from all its hosts before him.

…

Its mine-sign is as much a warning as a curse.

…

The Summoning Dark is not inherently evil. It is vengeance and despair, that is true, and it is a force of darkness to be feared when it is unleashed, but it is not evil. In between hosts it watches and waits but it does no harm beyond raising the hairs on the backs of necks or creating a shiver down the spine. It is a reminder of the dangers in the darkness but not a danger in its own right.

Not until it is called. Not until it is needed.

…

The places where its sign is painted are places where Dwarves have committed atrocities against Dwarves. Its summoners are warning their kin as they carve it – or paint it, often in blood – of crimes and cruelties that there are no words to express. The Summoning Dark is a warning about those things that lurk in the shadows that can – and must – be destroyed.

It is also the method of their destruction.

…

It has seen suffering in its eternity, lurking in the dark places beneath the earth. It has seen mines collapse and tunnels flood. It has seen murders and suicides. It has heard curses and weeping and the last desperate gasps for air when words and tears are out of reach.

…

The Summoning Dark does not know its origin. If it had to choose, it rather likes – as much as it can like anything – the story of being born from a curse. Certainly it has heard enough of them; has been invoked in enough jerky, final movements for it to be a possibility. But there is no real way of telling, and the Summoning Dark doesn't think of such things. It is too busy watching and waiting and sliding through the gaps between grief and wrath and the spaces between ribs.

…

It lingers in Samuel Vimes, and it learns.

…

They are both forces of justice in their own right. Vimes adheres to the morals he respects in others and the laws of his city. He will defend the book because he is a dangerous man, and he knows that if he strays too far from its rules and regulations then he will lose himself and everything he has worked hard to protect.

The Summoning Dark is more direct.

It takes hold of those who touch its sign – who bleed on it, or weep on it, or who carve it into their walls – and it enacts justice through them. It enacts a bitter, twisted justice and gives no thought to those it uses. It is Vimes how he could be if he left the path of righteousness and lost his way in the dark that calls him. It is Vimes as he will be once its corruption has taken hold.

It is the Dark, and it is ever being summoned.


End file.
